Daily Yellowstone journal., 1887-07-29
VARIETIES OF HANosHAklNG.
How the Custom First Originateh-Peeo'
liarities of Different People.

" ~ tustbhh u WV
liarities of Different People.
''Did YOU ever consider how people
first began to shake hands! No: Well,
then. sit down here and I'll tell you what
/ think about it, for | have given this
subject some study" said a gentleman
to a reporter. My opinion is that IN
early and barbarous times, when every
savage or semi savage was his own law
giver, judge, soldier and policeman, and
had to watch over his own safety, in de-
fault of all other protection, when two
friends OF acquaintance, or two stran-
gers desiring 10 be friends or acquaint-
ances, when they CHANGED to meet, Of
fered each to the other the right hand
alike of otfense and defense-the hand
that wiells the sword, the dagger, the
club, the tomahawk or other weapon Of
war. Each did this TO show that the
hand was empty and that neither war
nor treachery was intended. \ man
cannot well stab another while he is en-
gagged in the act Of shaking hands with
him. unless he he a double dyed traitor
and villain and strives To aim a cow
ardly blow with the left while giving the
right and pretending to be ON good terms
with him.
did you ever observe hat the ladies
never shake hands with the cordiality of
men unless il be with each other! The
reason is obvious. 1t is for them TO re-
ceive homage. not 10 give il. They cam
not he expected 10 show 10 persons of the
other sex a warmth of greeting which
might he misinterpreted unless such per-
sons are very closely related, in which
cases h~andshaking is not needed and the
lips do more agreeable duty.
Every man shakes hands according to
his nature, whether il be timid or aggres-
sive, proud or humble. courteous or
churlish. vulgar or refined. There is GER
tainly a great art in h%andshaking. but l
tell YOU the kind Of handshake l hate,
and that is one of the what | call the
jolly good fellow handshakes. One Of
those fellows will grasp your hand,
squeeze it until the tears run down your
cheeks and then, using your arm in the
same n as a pump handle, will go
on shaking all the time he is talking 10
you, letting it rest easy for a momen or
SO, with the exception of a little spas
modic shake now and again, only, how
ever. 10 start in afresh. The first time
you imagine he is doing il because he Is
extremely glad TO see you, but when you
see him manifest the same cordialitv to-
ward people whom he met for the first
time yesterday and toward those with
whom he has been intimate for years YOU
know he is a humbug or is, at any rate,
acting from habit. But Of all the men
10 I've avoided the man who squeezes your
hand in an ~eXcruciating manner on a
false pretense is the worst. He dislOcates
your joints to convince YOU that he re-
CARDS You highly, and as soon rs YOU
are out Of sight forgets YOU or thinks
that You are M great shakes after all,
or, worse still, abuses YOU behind your
back.
Another and even more odious kind
Of handshaker is he who offers YOU hi.
hand. but will not permit YOU to get fair
hold Of it. To be treated with cool con
tempt of supercilious scorn which such a
mode OF ~salutation implies is worse than
not to he saluted At all. II hands are to
be shaken let it he done properly. An
other species Of handshaker | detest is
the man who offers you one finger instead
of five, as much as to say, i am either
too preoccupied myself or think too little
of you to give you my whole hand,
With such a man the interchange of any
but the barest and scantiest courtesy is
rendered difficult by any one who has a
particle of self respect.
''Yet another Objectionable man is the
one that shoves out his left hand in greet.
ing you. That is discourteous, sometimes
intentional and sometimes not, hut it is
an act that no true gentleman would
commit. There is really no reason why
IL should be more discourteous than &c
kiss the left cheek instead of the right,
hut doubtless the custom that makes thu
right hand imperative in all sincere salu.
tations dates from those early times when
handshaking first began. and the hand
that shook on was shaken in friend.
ship was Of necessity w~eaponless. The
poor left hand hat one would think
ought to be- of as much value and strength
as the right, just as the left foot or leg il
as strong as the right foot OF leg. because
they are both used equally, has fallen
into disrcpute rs well as into comparative
disuse, until il has become an accepted
phrase TO say Of any proceedings that i.
inauSpicious, artful. sly OF secretly mali.
cious, that il is 'sinister'-that il is left
handed.
II do not" he continued, ''obiect tc
shake hands on certain occasions. but il
is this perpetual shake. shake with
everybody that | object TO. Ii is pleasant
10 touch the hand Of an honest man on
woman. and to he ON such terms of &C.
quaintanceship with either Of these mas.
tcrpieccs of creation as to justify you in
the thought that you are their equal.
Even Ia grasp the paw Of an intelligent
dog, who holds it up for you to shake on
being asked to do SO, is something plea.
sant. For the dog, unlike some men,
would to give his paw to one in
whose eye and in whose face he, by his
fine instinct, in some respects the equal il
not the superior Of reason, discovered
~treachery or evil. As | have said. ii il
the continued hand shaking with Tom,
Dick and Harry that ought TO he put q
stop tO.-Chicago News.
People Partially Unsound.
lnthe form of insanity generally known